Monday, October 24, 2011
In praise of having a Board of Directors
WBEZ: A new piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review argues that there are five things considered essential to the success of nonprofits that are, in fact, wastes of time. The author is wrong about every one of them (Don’t use volunteers? Skip social media?) but he’s especially wrong about Boards of Directors, of which he says, There is a tremendously high fixed cost to training your board to facilitate donations (in kind or cash). If your board can’t generate a large part of your budget (say, 20 percent), you are likely to find them getting in the way of fundraising success...
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7 comments:
Certainly a diversity of skills is important in a board of directors in a non-profit. The person who thinks he can do it all without the help of a board is fooling himself and that non-profit will probably not be around for long. No one can truly do everything and certainly no one can do everything WELL. The best use of time is to find the person who can actually handle the job. As the article states, you need people who can actually do something useful. A true mastermind is a wonderful thing and that is at least in part what a board of directors should be. Their eclectic talents should move the non-profit forward and if they do not it is because they do not have good leadership not because the board itself is at fault.
This article focuses more on the board as a financial entity rather than an operational one. The board in non-profit organizations is the body responsible for representing the public's views, since non-profits are public, and the board of directors for a corporation is responsible for representing the shareholders' views.
It is important to use the skills and connections of each board member to the benefit of the organization, be that for financial, managerial, or logistical reasons.
First off there are certain things required in order to be a non-profit and a board is one of them. so regardless of how much of a waist of time they think the board is they are required to have one. past that, the nonprofit picks its own board so if you want a good board pick a good board. that means picking people that will be a value added to the organisation they could have special skills or are just willing to go the extra mile to help the organisation. The board is one of the unique parts of a nonprofit that can really jump in to any project when that project needs extra help. in the end it i think it has to do with what the org wants there board to be.
I think the author of this article missed the point of the other article. The author of the Stanford article wasn't saying that all nonprofits shouldn't have boards or volunteers and such, he was just saying that for small theaters they can be more a lot of work that may pull resources away from other tasks, such as doing the work of the organization. I believe the other article was focused on small local nonprofits, and I think this author missed that note entirely because he mentions many large non profits.
I like the way that this author points out that the people on your organization's Board want to help you and your organization succeed. From a distance it seems weird to have these (relatively) wealthy figures that are often not artists on a Board for a theatre company. They are making major decisions and it is easy to question their intentions and if they really understand what you're trying to do with your art. But would they have signed up for the job if they weren't interested in sharing the arts? Hopefully not. These Board members want to help and working in tandem with them seems like the best way to go. I'll have to keep this in mind for the future in case I work with members of this type of Board myself.
Certainly good points. The board can be an invaluable tool to your organization if you have the right people on the roster. Stressing diversity of skills is important. You need people with pocketbooks to lead giving campaigns. You need people who know people to network and get others onboard with you. Have you thought about a lawyer who can contribute his or her see vices pro bono? You can always use someone who has experienced running companies and organizations. And the list goes on. So go ahead, hug your board. Maybe they'll give you that dusty Monet in the basement.
The Board of Directors is a important piece to the non-profit puzzle. The company can branch out into different communities to find contributions. I don't believe that the author of "Five Investments you can Skip" was suggesting that the company doesn't need a board. In my opinion he was stating that a smaller company needs a smaller board. If that is the case then it would be easier to train that small group and grow the board from there.
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